By FONG KEE SOON
keesoon@thestar.com.my
Penang funicular railway’s six-day run to raise funds
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Hill funicular train service will re-open to the public on April 25 and will run for charity in the first six days.
Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) director Datuk Lee Kah Choon said the return fare for the charity rides would be RM10 for adults. Children below 12 can ride for free.
“Proceeds from the charity tickets will go to the Penang welfare deparment to help underprivileged folk identified by the state government,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Lee said that from May 1 the corporation would impose different fares for Malaysians and foreign visitors.
Chugging new ride: The train and its passengers making their way up Penang Hill.For Malaysians, the return fares would be RM8 for adults (below 55 years) and RM4 for children (aged three to 12.)
Senior citizens (aged 55 and above) and Malaysian students will enjoy a reduced rate of RM4.
For foreigners, the return fares will be RM30 (for adults) and RM15 (for children aged three to 12).
The previous return fares were RM4 for adults and RM2 for children, irrespective of whether they were local or foreign visitors.
Lee said one-way fares were available for Malaysians at RM5 per ticket, for both adults and children.
Disabled persons or those holding OKU cards as well as children aged three and below local or foreign will enjoy free rides.
Lee said the corporation had introduced a return trip family package (for two adults and two children) at RM18 for Malaysians and RM70 for foreigners.
Residents of the hill as well as licensed traders, hawkers and workers can continue to buy their monthly pass at RM24.
The revamped Penang Hill service will run from 6.30am to 9pm daily.
The service was suspended since Feb 22 last year for the RM73mil upgrading project by the Tourism Ministry.
It now has two new air-conditioned Swiss-made coaches that can ferry up to 100 passengers and is capable of making a one-way trip within five minutes without a change of train.
In the previous 87-year-old system, passengers had to change trains at the middle station for a 30-minute one-way trip.
The resumption of the service is, however, shrouded in uncertainty as PHC has has only two weeks' stock of spare parts.
Lee said an order had been placed for the parts but they have yet to arrive.
